Beucheresse Gate, Laval
These rooms, installed by the “Touring Club of France,” are now to be found sprinkled here and there throughout the land, and, if white lacquered walls and ceilings and iron beds, and simple draperies and no carpets,—but highly waxed floors instead,—can ensure a superlative cleanliness and airiness, why, so much the more welcome they are; and surely the weary tourist ought not to mind whether he sleeps in a cubicle or not. Again, the fare of this particular hotel (the Travellers’) is so excellent that he ought to be willing to sleep on the proverbial plank.
Vitré, in spite of all novelty, is a true city of the past, and one literally walks the by-paths of history when he traverses its streets. All at once one comes to the ancient and theatrical-looking Château of the Tremoilles, Vitré’s most noble family of other days.
The town has undergone many sieges. Charles VIII. captured it, and in 1488 sojourned in it for some days. During the wars of the League, the Rieux and the Colignys led the revolt, and it served for some years as a strong place of resort for the Huguenots. Within the two hundred years following, the Breton Parliament, alternately presided over by the Dukes of Vitré and of Rohan, met here many times, always amid a great and joyous festival given by the town.
